SSI SCHAEFER Receives Major Order from the Czech Republic

MAKRO Cash & Carry ČR s.r.o., the wholesale subsidiary of METRO GROUP Wholesale and Food Specialist company in the Czech Republic, has tasked SSI SCHAEFER with the creation of a modern logistics center at its site in Kozomín, north of the country's capital Prague. SSI SCHAEFER is implementing a holistic logistics solution, which includes the establishment of an extensive conventional racking system for various temperature zones, a 10-aisle automated miniload system (ASPW), 16 Schäfer Carousel Systems (SCS), a bin conveying system, three picking stations with sequencing towers as well as the implementation of the WAMAS® Warehouse Management Software (WMS) from SSI SCHAEFER.

MAKRO, an important wholesale operator in the Czech Republic, plans to open its new semi-automated distribution centre in Q 1 2018. The distribution centre will be used for supplying MAKRO stores and its delivery customers. MAKRO responds with this move on its customer’s needs and introduces a food service delivery solution matching the future standards. It will also significantly upgrade its overall logistics network to a high level enabling the company flexibility needed for future growth. Following an international call for tenders, SSI SCHAEFER was awarded the contract as a general contractor. The aim is to satisfy MAKRO's intralogistics requirements in terms of capacity, throughput, and picking accuracy by 2025.

The intralogistics specialists are constructing static high bay warehouses with a total capacity of 31,000 pallet storage locations and continuous pallet racks with 500 storage locations. An additional package flow rack has a total of 93,000 staging locations for bins and cardboard packaging in 14,000 3-m deep channels. At the heart of these automated processes is an 11.5-m high ASPW, which is being installed in parallel. The 10-aisle bin warehouse covering almost 5,000 square meters contains roughly 50,000 storage locations. Storage and retrieval processes are performed by ten storage-retrieval machines of the type Schäfer Miniload Crane, which are designed for the lateral staging of slow movers and the supply of goods-to-person picking locations for the slowest movers. Order consolidation takes place at a total of 16 consolidation and palletizing stations, which are operated by 16 SCS systems with sequenced picking bins. In addition, three established sequencing towers, each with a buffer capacity of 44 bins, ensure order-optimized picking processes at the goods-to-person work stations.

In future, the automated transport of bins in the MAKRO distribution center will take place on a conveying system with roller curves, belt diverters, close to 2 km of belt and roller conveyors and integrated in-motion belt scale systems. As the comprehensive software solution for all temperature ranges, WAMAS will be used for both manual and automated processes. The analysis of KPIs and their visualization in dashboards will enable MAKRO to monitor the system in real time, and make changes and improvements at any time. Start-up of the system is expected at the beginning of 2018.